Monday, 22 December 2008

The McCanns' Christmas video is "more like a Christmas campaign for toys."

Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the DIC - the PJ's Department of Criminal Investigation, head of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, today accused the parents of the little British girl of "feeding the idea that the child is still alive."

"They should admit, once and for all, that the little one is dead," states Gonçalo Amaral in statements to the Portuguese daily newspaper, Correio da Manha. According to the former inspector, the video released by the McCanns, "is more like a Christmas campaign for toys and not the search for a child," deploring that "videos about the child's disappearance and those about the reason for that disappearance were not released, because that would help, and very much so, the investigation."

The call by the former inspector, requesting the disclosure of a series of videos and images as yet unknown to the public, is not likely to succeed, because still, in spite of several appeals in that direction, neither the McCanns nor the Portuguese Public Minister (MP) is showing the least willingness to to reopen the investigation.

Some videos and images from the Tapas 9's holiday have never been released, because the group has always claimed to the police that they didn't exist. For the Portuguese authorities' part, the MP still retains an important set of documents under the secrecy of justice, even if a source close to the Prosecutor's office admits that, "certain journalists have shown publicly that they have a copy of it," stressing for their attention, "that it is important that the use of these documents is done in such a way so as not to harm a possible reopening of the investigation."